NN Online:
Hundreds of medical technology and pharmacy students have staged a sit-in protest in front of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in the capital on Monday to press home their six-point demand includes establishing a separate department for ensuring proper code and conducts.
The protest began early morning at 9am at Mohakhali’s TB Gates in Dhaka.
Hundreds of students initially blocked the Gulshan Link Road in order to press home their demand.
Students under the banner of “Anti-discrimination Medical Technology and Pharmacy Student Action Council,” they chanted slogans and held placards with messages such as “Pharmacists are essential for drug formulation” and “Recruit medical technologists.”
After briefly moving to the DGHS main gate, the students resumed the road blockade by 11:30am, disrupting traffic flow from Gulshan to Amtali.
Their demands include establishing a separate department for medical technologists and pharmacists, granting diploma holders 10th grade status and resuming the halted 2013 recruitment process, creating 9th grade positions for graduate medical technologists and pharmacists, upgrading Dhaka’s Institute of Health Technology to university status, forming a Medical Technology Council and a Diploma Medical Education Board, and launching BSc and MSc programs across all faculties, including BPharm, with scholarships and training allowances.
The protesters highlighted a recruitment freeze for medical technologists, which has persisted for over 14 years. Currently, only 4,106 of the 5,975 government-sanctioned medical technologist positions are filled. The students cited World Health Organization (WHO) standards that recommend a ratio of three nurses and five medical technologists per doctor.